Road of the Lost takes us into a world of fae alongside Croi, a brownie with far more questions than answers and whose lone friend is a cursed stone statue. Croi craves the love and belonging she sees when invisibly slinking through the human world, but she doesn't belong. All she has is the Hag and her own impetuous verve. The Hag may be Croi's guardian, but there's no love lost between the two. The Hag passes down edicts, and Croi defies them and questions them when given half a chance. But things change when Croi has a dream-- a dream with a feast, the Robber Prince of the fae, and a question: are you the heir of the Forgotten King? And Croi's glamour, a secret even to her, falls. Painfully. She's magically pushed out the door by a brutal, insistent summoning spell. She doesn't know her destination or who's waiting on the other end of the spell. As she's dragged into the Otherworld, she's just as mystified by the overnight changes to her body as the glamour is stripped away. Who is she really, and what will be revealed as her true form once the changes are complete?

Croi makes for a fascinating protagonist, hard to like in the face of some of her decisions, but all the more strong for it. At times compassionate and at others resolutely protective of herself, Croi's lack of social inhibitions or expectations lets her stand tall on her own terms. Growing up virtually alone makes her hungry for connection, but it also makes her unlikely to cave to conventions she views as constricting or frivolous.

This is a weird fantasy in that it's both expected and not. There are some genre conventions at play here-- handsome prince, secret princess, a power struggle for the crown. But Croi's unusual stature as a protagonist makes things interesting. There's a viciousness to the story that's more than surface level. Family, the greater good, and friendship might mean nothing in the face of quests for power or personal safety.

My biggest gripe is that the overloaded story leaves no space for relationship development. There's a romance I cared little about, friendships that are tenuous at best, and a unique opportunity to talk about Croi's relationship with herself that's squandered by an abrupt ending. I'm not sure if some things are left a bit open with the hope for future adventures, but I don't think I'd return for more regardless. A protagonist that left me ambivalent and relationships that don't inspire me are a kiss of death. However, I think this is a creative approach to ya fantasy and one that steps outside the bounds of what we expect from a teenage girl on an adventure. And that's powerful in and of itself. Thanks to Simon Teen for my copy to read and review!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

This bookis perfect for all of us who desperately crave a magical forest.

Croi is a pretty naive main character, which makes sense for the story and her life but I can see it becoming an issue for some readers. That said, if you really want to be transported to a world unlike anything you've experienced before, even if you have read a thousand fae books before this. This one is worth cracking open.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing/Margaret K. McElderry Books for this eARC to review!

My review currently stands at 4/5 stars.

Although I'm not currently done reading this book (I have also purchased a finished copy), I'm going to go ahead and rate it a 4/5. The plot itself is super interesting and I enjoy the characters and their journey, but something about the pacing is making me want to put down the book and not yearn to read it like I am with others currently. Again, I'm definitely enjoying the book but I'm going to take a pause on it for now.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Have you ever read a high fantasy book where you wished the characters spent more time in the magical forest's? This is the book for you! Nafiza Azadi, the author, keeps you hypnotized on a wonderful and harrowing journey through magical forests, as a tethering spell pulls Croi; out of her cloaking spell and towards her final destination.

💕 Everything I LOVED 💕
~ The FMC Croi 🥰
~ Fae
~ Hidden identity
~ Betrayal
~ Magic
~ Forest Hags, pixies, brownies and dryad's!
~ Growth, in more ways than one
~ Gorgeous prose
~ Lush scenery
~ Magical storytelling
~ First love

I highly recommend this read to anyone that loves magical forests and spitfire characters who feel their emotions and don't let anyone control them!

🧚‍♀️𝔼𝕧𝕖𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕞𝕠𝕤𝕥 𝕡𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣𝕗𝕦𝕝 𝕞𝕒𝕘𝕚𝕔 𝕔𝕒𝕟’𝕥 𝕙𝕚𝕕𝕖 𝕒 𝕤𝕖𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕥 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣.🧚‍♀️

This was a really unique YA book! Overall, I would definitely recommend trying it!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

Road of the Lost is a book that will sweep you away. It's easy to get lost in the action and adventure which basically begins from the very first pages. And while I fell in love with Croi's quest to find answers - and all the action that unfolds - why I enjoyed Road of the Lost so much were the characters and the themes. I had no choice but to love Croi. A character who has to figure out their own origins and the mystery behind their past will always pull at my heartstrings.

Her journey to discover her own powers and her past is captivating. She's faces with the concept of what's possible. How everything she ever thought is about to change and the world she thought she knew will disappear. A distinct lyrical quality to the writing felt familiar to me from The Wild Ones. And combined with her personal journey and fierce desire fro a family, my heart broke for her. All the things she will do for the people she cares about, even when they don't feel the same.

Honestly, I'm disappointed by this one. I fell in love with the cover and couldn't wait to read it. It just felt so unremarkable. The world was neat, but everything else was meh.

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Road of the Lost

Author: Nafiza Azad

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 3.5/5

Recommended For...: young adult readers, fantasy, fae, low fantasy

Publication Date: October 18, 2022

Genre: YA Fantasy

Age Relevance: 13+ (gore, violence, death, kidnapping, illness)

Explanation of Above: There is some blood gore and violence in the book, along with death. There are some kidnappings as well and illness is mentioned here and there in the book.

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Pages: 336

Synopsis: Even the most powerful magic can’t hide a secret forever.

Croi is a brownie, glamoured to be invisible to humans. Her life in the Wilde Forest is ordinary and her magic is weak—until the day that her guardian gives Croi a book about magick from the Otherworld, the world of the Higher Fae. Croi wakes the next morning with something pulling at her core, summoning her to the Otherworld. It’s a spell she cannot control or break.

Forced to leave her home, Croi begins a journey full of surprises…and dangers. For Croi is not a brownie at all but another creature entirely, enchanted to forget her true heritage. As Croi ventures beyond the forest, her brownie glamour begins to shift and change. Who is she really, who is summoning her, and what do they want? Croi will need every ounce of her newfound magic and her courage as she travels a treacherous path to find her true self and the place in the Otherworld where she belongs.

Review: For the most part I thought this book was ok. The book had some good world building and great character development. I think the book has a lot of potential to be a wonderful fae book for those who love fae books. I also liked how, as our MC developed in the story, the storytelling got better and better and more in-depth.

However, I think the story in this e-arc form is really choppy and it’s super hard to get into. Like I said though I have hope it’ll get better in the finalized version.

Verdict: It was good!

This was a fun read featuring a unique voice and beautiful world building that created a visceral reading experience. At first, I found the third-person present tense narrative quite jarring and it did take me a while to get into this book, but the buildup definitely paid off and I really enjoyed each of the characters. The character development was fleshed out and deep across characters, with good attention to detail. And the relationships reaped the benefit of this development, and felt very real. I look forward to reading more from Azad in the future.

I am a fan of middle grade reads and loved how Road of the Lost started like one. It contains a sense of wonder middle grade reads easily capture, then grows into a YA novel as Croi's journey unfolds. The change mirrors her transformation from a brownie to something else, her naivety fading like middle grade wonder often making way for YA’s focus on self-discovery.

I would not have loved this book nearly as much had it not been for Croi. She is cheeky and has a big heart but is lonely. She longs for the warmth of a mother’s love, for the protection of a father’s strength, for the camaraderie of friends, for there to be people who care about her. Her journey to find her past and to discover her identity is accompanied with heartbreak and rage, love and loss. As Croi gets closer to learning who she is, the tale becomes more complex and engaging. I recommend Road of the Lost to individuals who enjoy fairytales and appreciate adventures that focus on self-discovery.

First, I find this cover to be beautiful.
The whole vibe fits Croi’s personality

Second, I enjoyed this story overall.
The story is written in tune with Crois age and her lack of knowledge of pretty much everything. As the reader, you experience everything new that she is encountering. Because of this she often makes some odd choices but it does make sense.

The writing is beautiful and imaginative- it does read very YA.
I was rooting for Croi to figure everything out and to see where she ended up and who she actually was.

Definitely more of a 4.5.

It’s been a while since I read the author Nafiza’s debut The Candle and the Flame but I remember adoring it at the time. While I never did manage to read her The Wild Ones, I was totally enamored by the cover of this book and couldn’t resist asking for an arc. I’m also so excited that I get to participate in this blog tour.

I truly didn’t know what I was expecting when I went into this. It’s so totally different from the author’s debut that I pretty much went in without any expectations, just wanting to experience it. And wow what a ride this turned out to be. I don’t tend to read a lot of Fae books - I’ve read my share of SJM’s series and The Cruel Prince trilogy too - but I don’t have a fascination with the fae like many other readers tend to have. But I feel like this book may have finally succeeded in making me like them. As this is mostly a journey book - mainly through forests - it is heavy on descriptions. If you know me at all, you’ll realize that I tend to hate long descriptions but I couldn’t stop reading every single line here. The author creates a mesmerizing world with her words and I felt myself lost in the woods, trying to experience the charm of everything our protagonist was experiencing herself for the first time. I’m definitely lost for words here too because I’m unable to articulate how beautiful this reading journey was for me. The pacing of the book is definitely slow, as it feels more like a slice of life story, but the author keeps our interest with each small revelation that comes at the right time. The author is also very good at making us feel every single emotion that the main character does - her innocence, mischievousness, ignorance, wonder, awe, pain and rage - every feeling of hers felt palpable on the page.

This is truly a coming of age story of Croi. This is probably the first time I’m reading a book where the main character grows both physically and metaphorically as the pages go by and this transformation is the story. Croi starts off as an innocent brownie who is happy being invisible, stealing little things from the human market and just spending time with her stone friend in the garden. She may not know her origins or why she doesn’t have parents, but she is relatively happy because she doesn’t know any other reality. But then her life is upended and she has to go on an inevitable journey, hoping to find some truths about herself at the end of it.

While the uncertainty and pain of her physical transformation is a hurdle in her journey, she never gives up and is determined on her path. She doesn’t know what having a friend means but she does meet other kin during her journey, thinks she has found friends, experiences betrayal and maybe even the beginnings of first love. But through it all, even when she is scared of what her true form might be, she keeps her heart. She is compassionate and always tries to help those who are in need, never expecting much in return. But she is also not one to accept things as told to her - she is smart and very observant and as her powers grow, she questions what she is told and tries to figure out what is right and what is wrong.

What I did like most about her though (and I’m glad the author portrayed her this way) is that she is angry about her circumstances - how she was never given a choice in her entire life, how she now has to endure extensive pain to reach her true form, how everyone keeps using her for their own ends - and she does not shy away from expressing her rage. She is not cruel and won’t harm those who don’t deserve it, but she does not give forgiveness to those who harmed her, not until she feels they have earned it.

In the end, I don’t think I’ve been able to express how much I adored this book, and especially our MC Croi. This is a beautifully written story of a young fae and her journey of finding herself and more truths about her world. With evocative descriptions, a very easy to love main character, a Fae world unlike anything I’ve encountered before, and a story that charmed me completely - Road of the Lost is definitely one of the best YA books I’ve read this year. This is an adventure tale unlike any other and I hope you all will get to experience it too.

This Muslim authored book contains no Islam in its rich fantasy of Fae and Brownies and Glamour. I don't normally enjoy world building that seems to happen in real time, such as Alice in Wonderland, but this book had just enough grounding so to speak, that I enjoyed getting lost in the "what will happen next" aspect of the narrative. Honestly though, I really had no idea what was going on for most of the book, luckily the author convinced me that she knew what was happening, so I stopped trying to keep the politics and details straight and at about the half way point just went along for the ride. The writing is rich and detailed that even when completely lost, I was pulled in and couldn't stop reading.

I would love to listen to this as an audio book, as I am unable to talk about it with people seeing as I cannot pronounce any names, species, places, or events. It is humbling, in a fantastic sort of way. I love Croi's voice, but at times it seems too modern real life for the tone of the book, when she compares the grass to broken crayons, or her sassiness sounds more like my 15 year old kid and not a being split in two with powers of her strength, it breaks the spell a bit when contrasted with all the other descriptions so carefully plotted.

I was nervous to dive in to the book having loved her debut novel, and not liking her second one at all. This one I don't hate, but I'm still mulling it over, and will probably purchase or check it out from the library so that I can thumb through it again and flip easier than in an ebook to recall how all the players are interconnected and related. I struggle with fantasy, so it is more a 3.5 taking in to consideration my ignorance of the genre.

Road of the Lost is pure magic and Azad’s prose are enchanting. I am in love! This story follows our main character, Croi, as she learns her true identity has been glamoured her entire life, and a summoning spell forces her to leave the only home she’s ever known, to embark on a journey to discover who she is, and where she comes from. To do this, she must leave the safety and familiarity of the human world and enter the Otherworld, a place full of magic and mystery, friends and foes.

I found the world-building rich and lush, overflowing with lore and magical beings. Even with the dangers and monsters that lurked in the darkness, I wanted to stay there. It was as beautiful as it was dark. There were creatures and magic that made my hair stand on end, and those that touched my heart and made me laugh. I especially loved Croi’s character. Although she was immature at times, her curiosity, tenacity, and sassy nature, made her relatable and endearing. And I found myself laughing out loud more times than I could count.

The publisher recommends this for readers who enjoyed the Cruel Prince, but if you didn’t love the Folk of the Air series, have no fear cause neither did I. Other than sharing a very general storyline/plot of a seemingly powerless girl, taken from a human world and into a fae one, and forced to reckon with dangerous and powerful rulers, they share little in common. But if you’re a fan of cozy-dark fairytales and fierce female main characters with secret identities and hidden magic, I think you’d love this! And I STRONGLY SUGGEST, please, do not sleep on this book!

Road of the Lost by Naifza Azad has a beautiful cover and a interesting permise. For the majority of the book I struggled to followed along with the author's usage of third person point of view. The usage of third person made a lot of the sentences clunky and repetitive. However, at the end of the novel the author's usage of first person was really well done and made me want to continue reading.

This book has beautiful prose and vivid descriptions. Road of the Lost is a fast paced, edge of your seat kind of book. The characters all feel very real and it’s a gorgeous fantasy world. I’ve been dying to read it since it was initially announced and would love to have Nafiza Azad on my podcast Raise Your Words to talk about this book.

I absolutely adore the atmosphere and the magic in this book. Fae or fairy stories are some of my favorite types of stories and definitely lived up to expectations. I can definitely see oh why it is recommended for people who like the cruel prince I think another book people would like would be Unseelie which is coming out soon.
I also really like to take on fairies and brownies as opposed to just standard fairies. It is a lot more creative and a lot more interesting to read about a type of magic or fairy that isn't as common. Croi is a great character and I loved seeing all of the adventures and struggles that they go through.

I really don't know why this book is for the fans of the cruel prince because I did not get those vibes at all. The guy was maybe a little like the guy in TCP but we didn't see enough of him to be sure. I did like the magic system and being in the forest, seeing the different lands & hearing the different stories. The main character had a very interesting journey and quest to learn her background but when she starts off so childish it reads more like a middle grade book.

I thoroughly enjoyed what I read, it was what I was hoping for in a new young adult novel. The plot was what I was hoping for and really enjoyed going through this world. The characters were interesting and I loved getting to know them. It was a unique concept and I appreciated getting to learn about the magic and universe. I hope there is more in the series. Nafiza Azad has a great writing style and thoroughly enjoyed getting to read this.

“How did you track me here?” “I gave you my necklace. . . .” Tinder trails off, her face brightening. “Oh! I can sense my necklace, but it isn’t on you.” She looks around the clearing. “Is it in this caravan?” “I don’t see where else it could be.” Croi holds up her hands to show their emptiness. “The caravan must have some sort of invisibility spell on it.” Croi looks at Daithi. It is quite unsettling to look at someone who absorbs light instead of being illuminated by it. “Will you get out of my way by yourself, or should I shove you?”